FORMER police Sgt. Ron King apparently asked some folks if they wanted to practice shooting at targets that looked like a "faceless silhouette of a person in a hoodie holding a beverage can, a pack of Skittles candy tucked in a pocket." Sound familiar? That's because young Trayvon Martin was wearing a hoodie, holding a beverage and a pack of skittles the night he was shot and murdered in February of 2012 by George Zimmerman; the now high profile case in Florida. Coincidence? I don't think so.
King has this as a "training video" on YouTube (when are people going to learn that YouTube is not a place to post ANYTHING that resembles a video to be seen by others!?) and said the target was meant as a 'no-shoot' training aid. Oh really? I'm so sure we're all that stupid, Mr. King.
He has apologized to the Martin family. Oh how very. I'm sure they really care what you have to say. He has been fired. Well, that's not enough. I don't know how we can ever end the madness of racism in our country when the ignorance of people like Mr. King do shit like this and pretend it to be something completely different than the obvious. Not funny. Not cool.
Rant over.
source: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/04/14/travyon-martin-ron-king/2081467/
what a shameful man!
ReplyDelete"man" is being too kind.
DeleteWow. Just.....wow.
ReplyDeleteWe act surprised, but we probably shouldn't, surprisingly. Sad.
DeleteI was just about to write the same exact thing Kim wrote! ^^^
ReplyDeleteI hear ya. Disturbing to say the least.
DeleteWhen I was younger, I worked at a cardboard factory yeah, exciting I know. Anyhow, one of North Royalton's finest came in with target posters he wanted to have pasted on to cardboard, my manager did the favor. When he was done he showed us the target: white, teenage skateboarders.
ReplyDeleteIt's really a shame that the 3% of good cops ruin it for the 97%.
Racism comes in all forms, no doubt. I'm not sure the percentage you gave is that high, but I'll take your word for it.
DeleteGlad to see you were able to finally post here, Renee!
Actually it wasn't racism in the case I shared. It was a white cop. It's just exemplifies the sick culture in the police community. To think that any images of teenagers or any real people used as target practice is sick to me. What happened to using silhouettes?
ReplyDeleteWe should be just as concerned if not more so of the mental health of police officers as we are with civilians purchasing guns.
The percentage was sarcasm, I just haven't seen or come across police in many positive instances in my lifetime, and I have some in my family. There is something wrong with how a lot if not most of them think. I think the whole protect and serve thing was squashed a long time ago.
I use Firefox just for you! I don't know why Chrome refuses to cooperate. I enjoy your blogs thanks for sharing :)
You're welcome!!! Thanks for your thoughts. They are always welcomed and refreshing! Glad it works on Firefox.
DeleteI am thoroughly enjoying your sarcasm, too! :)
profiling. i'm not sure police can ever stop it, even though they are supposedly trained to think otherwise. i don't like cops, never could understand their make-up, but i suppose there are some good ones out there that i hope i can depend on when we truly need them. i don't begin to understand florida self-defence laws, or any constitutional right to own a gun in america, like it was necessary when you could take the law into your own hand in the wild west. as far as treyvon martin and his family are concerned, i haven't heard much lately about the case but i hope like hell his killer gets life.
ReplyDeleteTHAT a$$hole goes on trial in June, Peter, as he plead non-guilty. I hope he gets life, too. Then rammed up the arse, repeatedly.
Deletewell, he got zip. florida and america are so foreign to me, even though i have lineage through my grandfather and the loyalists on the other side of my parentage. tracking down a 17 year-old who looked "supsicious" because he was wearing a hoodie (and was black, so-called incidentally), and being able to shoot him dead with a concealed weapon because he reacted to being followed is allowed in america, and in some cases condoned and favoured by state law? i feel for america, you are our closest brethren, and yet you have laws that are as outdated as the wild west, and considered rights under the constitution. you would condemn similar court decisions in. let's say south africa, i'm sure, and you are world leaders in defence of freedom and justice for all, except it seems for racial minorities and those without middle-class patriotic values. just when i think there's a glimmer of hope, such as electing a bi-racial president, there are days like july 13 that turn that glimmer into a flickering smoulder. those days make it harder for me to love america, i'm sorry.
DeleteI could not agree with you more. And, I do not think you need to apologize. I don't love America much these days myself. Sad, really, since I am supposed to love my home land. Not so much. We are an embarrassment.
Delete